City engineer reviews grants, downtown studies and major sewer project
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Summary
City Engineer Marcus Meyer outlined grants awarded and active studies — including a $200,000 Safe Streets grant, a downtown grade‑separation study, two‑way conversion analyses and a main lift station expected to pump up to 96 million gallons per day — and reported $1.8 million in awarded grants so far.
Marcus Meyer, city engineer, gave the council a broad year‑end update on Dec. 12, detailing grants, planning studies and active capital work.
Meyer said the department reviewed 26 grant opportunities and applied for 11; to date the city has been awarded three grants totaling about $1,800,000 and has three applications still pending. He identified the awards as an EECBG grant (about $123,000) to buy electric vehicles, a Community Crossings grant of roughly $1.5 million for street improvements, and an IRA tree grant for approximately $152,622 to expand urban-forestry pocket parks. Meyer said the city also received a $200,000 Federal Highway Safe Streets for All award to support a Terre Haute Safe Streets action plan targeting vulnerable road users.
On planning and capital projects, Meyer described a downtown railroad grade‑separation study, a two‑way conversion study for several downtown one‑way streets, a near‑final Riverfront Master Plan done in cooperation with Vigo County and several partners, and a proposed connector road near the airport to open land for development. He said the city submitted a revised long‑term control plan to IDEM and expects a response soon.
Meyer also reviewed major infrastructure projects: a Brown Avenue stormwater improvement (an ARPA project) and the Terre Haute Main lift station, which he described as a sizable construction effort capable of pumping about "96,000,000 gallons of water a day" and about 40 feet deep. He framed the lift-station work as a key part of reducing combined sewer overflows.
On permitting and inspections Meyer said the city sold 2,215 building permits through November and reported "about $202,107,000 dollars" in permit revenue as presented to the council; the transcript figure appears unusually large for permit revenue and may reflect a transcription or presentation format issue. He also noted the city's growing use of the CityWorks asset‑management platform, new GIS hires and a drive‑routing pavement-rating program that provides more granular road-condition data.
Meyer closed by listing ongoing projects in design and construction, including Margaret Avenue improvements, a Thirteenth & Eighth Avenue overpass environmental review and a parallel interceptor project tied to the long‑term control plan.